Pipes

This section includes the following topics:

 

The Pipes section allows you to specify pipes to use for traffic shaping purposes. By using pipes in a proper setup, the firewall can guarantee network bandwidth as well as limit usage for different networks and services. The pipes that are defined in this section will later be used in the pipes column of the rules section.

Pipe configuration

Pipes are defined in the Pipes configuration section located in the Miscellaneous folder.

General parameters

Name ?Specifies a symbolic name for the pipe. This name is referred to by the Traffic Shaping part of the rules configuration.

Minimum Precedence ?Each pipe consists of eight different precedences, numbered 0 through 7. This setting specifies the lowest allowed precedence for traffic in this pipe. If a packet with a lower precedence enters, its precedence is raised to the value in this field. The value may range between 0 and 7.

Default Precedence ?Specifies the default precedence for the pipe. If a packet enters this pipe without a set precedence, it gets assigned this default precedence. This value may range between 0 and 7, but should be higher than, or equal to, the minimum precedence.

Maximum Precedence ?Specifies the highest allowed precedence for traffic in this pipe. If a packet with a higher precedence enters, its precedence is lowered to the value of this field. The value may range between 0 and 7, but should be higher than, or equal to, the default precedence.

Grouping ?The same way that traffic limits and reservations may be applied to a pipe as a whole, limits and reservations can be applied to individual users of a pipe. The users may be grouped according to destination network, destination IP address, destination port, source network, source IP address and source port. Note: grouping per port implicitly means also grouping per IP; port 1025 on one computer is not the same as port 1025 on another computer.

Network Size ?If users are grouped according to source or destination network, the size of the network has to be specified by this setting.

Enable dynamic balancing of groups ?Determines if dynamic bandwidth balancing should be applied to the users of this pipe.

Pipe Limits

This dialog box allows specification of bandwidth and packets-per-second limits for each precedence in the pipe, as well as for the total of the pipe. Bandwidth limitations are specified in Kbps (kilobits per second).

A blank field represents an unlimited value.

Group Limits

This dialog box allows specification of per-user bandwidth and packets-per-second limits for each of the user's precedences, as well as for the total of the user's allocation. Bandwidth limitations are specified in Kbps (kilobits per second).

A blank field represents an unlimited value.

The meaning of a 'user' is controlled by the grouping setting in the Pipe tab.